Labour brand is now tarnished beyond repair
satisfying no one as a result. Ever since Mr Corbyn took over, Labour moderates have resisted calls for a breakaway movement like the Social Democratic Party that split off during the 1980s. The failure of the SDP experiment has left Mr Corbyn’s foes clinging to the “Labour” brand. Yet there’s a danger that brand may now be damaged beyond repair.
SOME Labour moderates are beginning to look towards France, where outsider Emmanuel Macron is suddenly emerging as a serious contender in this year’s presidential election. Macron is a former member of the ruling Socialist Party who quit to become an independent and has launched his own political movement.
And while they may be unwilling to learn lessons from the success of Donald Trump, they should note that the US president’s astonishing journey to the White House was achieved in the face of outright hostility from the establishment of his Republican party.
In the political era of the insurgent, it appears to be politicians willing to break away from discredited party structures of the past who are making the running across the democratic world. This week has shown that Labour’s collapse is even more ruinous than moderates thought when Mr Corbyn seized their party’s leadership.
To have any hope of escaping a permanent move into the political wilderness, they may have to think the unthinkable and accept that the Labour Party is over.